The Papegojas of Old and New Sweden

THE PAPEGOJAS OF OLD AND NEW SWEDEN
EVERT A . LARSSON
Järpås is a small village on the central plains of Västergötland.
This village and the surrounding area have had a close association
with America from the time of the New Sweden colony and the
Delaware Swedes to the present. But the roots of the region extend
far back into the past, as revealed by many stone monuments with
runic inscriptions, a remarkable number of medieval churches and
centuries-old manor houses. From here a great number of people
left their homes for America, many to enrich culturally their new
country.
Berent Papagoja's epitaph in Järpås C h u r c h , Västerg­ötland.
( C o u r t e s y of E v e r t A . L a r s s o n .)
64
Yesterday encroaches upon today also in the church at Järpås,
where the coat of arms of the Papegoja family hangs on the south
wall of the nave in honor of one Berent (Bernt) Papegoja. This
heraldic shield depicts a symbolic green parrot—in Swedish
papagoja—perched on a golden stick and with an epitaph below that
reads:
Our gracious king's and royal Majesty's faithful servant,
former captain and thereafter able overseer of the royal castle of
Läckö, now in blessed memory the noble and honorable Sir
Berent Papegoja, Lord of Ramstorp, Korpegården, and Gun­narstorp,
born into this world in America at Fort Christina
December 23, 1649, died at Korpegården March 1, 1700. May
his soul in God and with all faithful in Christ forever rejoice.
The Berent Papegoja thus memorialized was the third son of
Johan Papegoja, acting governor of the New Sweden colony in
1653-54 and member of the lesser nobility of Västergötland. His
family reveals a wide range of personality types, from the
comparatively well-adjusted to the unstable and irresponsible. A
streak of religiosity and a pronounced interest in military matters
were prevalent among the Papegojas. A few were cultured and well
educated. What one member of the family built up in wealth and
property the next generation would tear down or squander. There
was an abundance of bickering, shady deals, litigations, and greed.
Some Papegojas amassed considerable agricultural holdings. One
of them possessed twenty farms, but another beat him with twice
that number, while a third Papegoja lived in such abject poverty
that to obtain daily bread for himself and his family he was forced,
it is said, to go begging in the countryside. One Papegoja strayed
into other fields to satisfy his collector's mania: when he died he
left seven illegitimate children and one cow. The family is now
extinct.
Johan Papegoja, Berent's father, came to New Sweden early,
possibly in 1640. In 1643 the newly appointed governor of the
colony, Johan Printz, arrived from Sweden. He had a daughter,
Armgard (or Armagot), with whom Papegoja became enamored.
She evidently did not spurn his attention, but her father objected
consistently to the young man's interest, with the perhaps natural
result that Papegoja became both more passionate and less
discerning. Since the governor showed no inclination to change his
mind in this matter, Papegoja resolved to seek assistance in his
65
romantic quest in Sweden, particularly from the lord high
chancellor, Per Brahe, who always had favored the Papegoja family.
Once back in Sweden, Papegoja secured a letter of recommenda­tion
from Queen Christina and a letter from Per Brahe addressed to
Governor Printz. He then returned to New Sweden. In his letter,
Brahe urged the governor to consider Papegoja's desire and
respond favorably. It would be the Christian thing to do, he said.
But the governor, Christian or not, was not about to change his
mind. Nor was Papegoja. He thereupon enlisted the aid of the
colony's pastor, Thomas Campanius Holm, and sent a letter of
distress to his protector, Brahe, in Sweden. Somewhat out of
character, the governor suddenly relented and the marriage
between Armgard and Johan took place at Fort Christina in 1645. In
due time the couple had four sons: Göran (1647-1693), Gustaf
Adolf, Berent (1649-1700) and Johan—all of them evidently born in
New Sweden. They may also have had two daughters, whose
names and destinies are unknown. But it was by all accounts an
unhappy marriage. Armgard was cantankerous, contemptuous,
tyrannical, and ill-disposed—characteristics she had displayed all
her life, and on that point Johan Papegoja's judgment in the choice
of a wife may be questioned. Papegoja himself seems at times to be
a nonentity, at least in a comparison with his wife, yet a dutiful,
tolerant person, if sometimes a pathetic figure.
Governor Printz returned to Sweden in 1653 and Papegoja
became acting governor. Some time after his service in this capacity
ended, Papagoja also left for Sweden, but without his wife, who
refused to leave. In 1656 Papegoja came back to the colony, now
governed by the Dutch, but shortly thereafter returned to Sweden,
alone once more. Armgard had no desire to leave her father's old
home, Printzhof, on Tinicum Island on the Delaware. In Sweden,
Papegoja joined the army and fought in the Northern War of
1655-60 in Germany. From there he once wrote to someone in
Sweden stating that everything he had possessed in America he
had lost to the conniving Dutch in New Netherland (New York).
After the war, Papegoja settled down on his estate in Västergöt­land.
People thought it peculiar that he lived alone without his wife
and evil tongues became busy. Since Armgard showed no desire to
change her place of domicile, her father, Johan Printz, then the
provincial governor in Jönköping, wrote to her admonishing her to
come home to her husband for the sake of honor and integrity. His
66
letter produced the desired effect and in 1662 she came back, but as
unyielding and contrary as ever. Toward her husband she remained
cold and distant. Her reputation became tarnished indeed. The
parish pastor and leading men of the community substantiated the
contention that Johan was a good Christian who had led an
"honorable and virtuous life." But Armgard showed him neither
love nor "duty to bed and board." It was disgraceful and
scandalous in the eyes of the steadfast.
By Christmas, 1662, apparently satiated with hard feelings,
Armgard made an attempt to flee back to America, but her trip
ended in Gothenburg. In May the following year her father died.
She was at the funeral and later at the reading of the will. She
inherited a substantial sum of money, which she tucked away for
some future gamble. That gamble arrived a short time before the
following Christmas when her husband went to Stockholm on
business and Armgard, still resentful, seized the opportunity to
depart from home and hearth. This time she was successful.
Together with a young man named Jacob Svensson, a son of Sven
Skute, a former officer in the New Sweden colony, she dashed off to
Gothenburg and from there embarked for America. In 1667, Johan
Papegoja died and was buried in Tidaholm church in Västergöt­land,
where he is memorialized by an epitaph bearing his coat of
arms. Back in America Armgard had again settled down on
Tinicum Island. Once, in an earlier period, she had sold the island,
but had been paid only half the selling price. A colonial court now
decided that she was free to sell it again and later she did so very
much to the relief, if not joy, of her servants to whom she seemed
tyranny personified.
In 1676 Armgard came back to Sweden. To the charge by the legal
authorities that she had abandoned her husband, she pleaded not
guilty and promptly retaliated by filing countercharges. She lived
on the Papegoja estate, probably Korpegården, and following her
established pattern of behavior was unable to live in harmony with
her environment. When her son Berent became superintendent of
the castle of Läckö she made her home there. In 1695, at age
seventy, her troubled, unsettled life came to an end. The distress
she had caused her family and environment never bothered her as
much as it did the recipients of her ill humor. Yet, she managed her
property shrewdly and well. Armgard was buried in the old church
in Otterstad, near Läckö. When it was later torn down, stone from
67
the church, as well as some of the gravestones—including Arm­gard's—
were used in the construction of houses and barns in the
area.
Korpegården Manor, Västergötland, in 1 9 8 3 . ( C o u r t e s y of E v e r t A . L a r s s o n .)
The youngest son of Vice-Governor Papegoja, also named Johan,
was, as indicated before, apparently born in America and had lived
with his mother on Tinicum Island. At least it is known he did so in
1668. On one occasion Armgard sent "two little Papegojas" to
Sweden and Johan must have been one of them. In 1678 he was a
second-lieutenant (fänrik) in the Swedish army, where he gained a
reputation as a misfit. Three years later he was discharged as
useless for the service.
Johan was another Papegoja who possessed a short and
uncontrollable temper. One night, at the end of a drinking party, he
found his bed occupied by another party-goer. The situation so
enraged him that he drew his saber, and without mercy or regard
for consequences, struck his sleeping comrade, who lost a
"horrendous amount" of blood and subsequently long hovered
between life and death. Johan was sentenced to two years in prison
for his deed and ordered to pay a fine of 2,000 silver daler. A few
weeks before he was to begin serving his prison term, he asked for
permission to go home to settle his affairs. The request was
granted, but Johan seized this as an occasion for deliverance. He
68
slipped away to Gothenburg and from there to America—his native
land. Apparently nothing is known of his life thereafter, but he
must have remained there. He would have faced incarceration and
additional criminal charges had he returned to Sweden.
SOURCES
I picked up many of the surviving traditions concerning the Papegoja family while
on a visit to their—and my—native Västergötland in 1983. In addition, the following
works have provided information for this article:
Acrelius, Israel. A H i s t o r y of N e w S w e d e n ; or, T h e Settlements on the R i v e r D e l a w a r e .
Trans. William Reynolds. Philadelphia, 1874. Reprint ed., Philadelphia: Readex,
1966.
Elgenstierna, Gustaf. D e n introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor. 9 vols. Stockholm,
1925-36.
Johanson, Amandus. T h e I n s t r u c t i o n s for Johan P r i n t z . Philadelphia, 1930.
. T h e Swedes on t h e D e l a w a r e . Philadelphia, 1914.
Jäpås-boken. Ed. Arne Wellner, Robert Fahlström, et a l . Falköping, 1979.
Lidköpings-bygden. J u l e n 1 9 8 3 . Ed. Georg Larsson. Lidköping, 1983.
Pomfret, John. T h e Province of West N e w Jersey, 1 6 0 9 - 1 7 0 2 . Princeton, 1956.
Sprinchorn, Carl. "Kolonien Nya Sveriges historia." Historiskt bibliotek, 5 (1878).
Stårck, J. " E n senfödd viking." Nya dagligt allehanda (Stockholm), J u l t i d n i n g en
1 9 2 8 .
69

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THE PAPEGOJAS OF OLD AND NEW SWEDEN
EVERT A . LARSSON
Järpås is a small village on the central plains of Västergötland.
This village and the surrounding area have had a close association
with America from the time of the New Sweden colony and the
Delaware Swedes to the present. But the roots of the region extend
far back into the past, as revealed by many stone monuments with
runic inscriptions, a remarkable number of medieval churches and
centuries-old manor houses. From here a great number of people
left their homes for America, many to enrich culturally their new
country.
Berent Papagoja's epitaph in Järpås C h u r c h , Västerg­ötland.
( C o u r t e s y of E v e r t A . L a r s s o n .)
64
Yesterday encroaches upon today also in the church at Järpås,
where the coat of arms of the Papegoja family hangs on the south
wall of the nave in honor of one Berent (Bernt) Papegoja. This
heraldic shield depicts a symbolic green parrot—in Swedish
papagoja—perched on a golden stick and with an epitaph below that
reads:
Our gracious king's and royal Majesty's faithful servant,
former captain and thereafter able overseer of the royal castle of
Läckö, now in blessed memory the noble and honorable Sir
Berent Papegoja, Lord of Ramstorp, Korpegården, and Gun­narstorp,
born into this world in America at Fort Christina
December 23, 1649, died at Korpegården March 1, 1700. May
his soul in God and with all faithful in Christ forever rejoice.
The Berent Papegoja thus memorialized was the third son of
Johan Papegoja, acting governor of the New Sweden colony in
1653-54 and member of the lesser nobility of Västergötland. His
family reveals a wide range of personality types, from the
comparatively well-adjusted to the unstable and irresponsible. A
streak of religiosity and a pronounced interest in military matters
were prevalent among the Papegojas. A few were cultured and well
educated. What one member of the family built up in wealth and
property the next generation would tear down or squander. There
was an abundance of bickering, shady deals, litigations, and greed.
Some Papegojas amassed considerable agricultural holdings. One
of them possessed twenty farms, but another beat him with twice
that number, while a third Papegoja lived in such abject poverty
that to obtain daily bread for himself and his family he was forced,
it is said, to go begging in the countryside. One Papegoja strayed
into other fields to satisfy his collector's mania: when he died he
left seven illegitimate children and one cow. The family is now
extinct.
Johan Papegoja, Berent's father, came to New Sweden early,
possibly in 1640. In 1643 the newly appointed governor of the
colony, Johan Printz, arrived from Sweden. He had a daughter,
Armgard (or Armagot), with whom Papegoja became enamored.
She evidently did not spurn his attention, but her father objected
consistently to the young man's interest, with the perhaps natural
result that Papegoja became both more passionate and less
discerning. Since the governor showed no inclination to change his
mind in this matter, Papegoja resolved to seek assistance in his
65
romantic quest in Sweden, particularly from the lord high
chancellor, Per Brahe, who always had favored the Papegoja family.
Once back in Sweden, Papegoja secured a letter of recommenda­tion
from Queen Christina and a letter from Per Brahe addressed to
Governor Printz. He then returned to New Sweden. In his letter,
Brahe urged the governor to consider Papegoja's desire and
respond favorably. It would be the Christian thing to do, he said.
But the governor, Christian or not, was not about to change his
mind. Nor was Papegoja. He thereupon enlisted the aid of the
colony's pastor, Thomas Campanius Holm, and sent a letter of
distress to his protector, Brahe, in Sweden. Somewhat out of
character, the governor suddenly relented and the marriage
between Armgard and Johan took place at Fort Christina in 1645. In
due time the couple had four sons: Göran (1647-1693), Gustaf
Adolf, Berent (1649-1700) and Johan—all of them evidently born in
New Sweden. They may also have had two daughters, whose
names and destinies are unknown. But it was by all accounts an
unhappy marriage. Armgard was cantankerous, contemptuous,
tyrannical, and ill-disposed—characteristics she had displayed all
her life, and on that point Johan Papegoja's judgment in the choice
of a wife may be questioned. Papegoja himself seems at times to be
a nonentity, at least in a comparison with his wife, yet a dutiful,
tolerant person, if sometimes a pathetic figure.
Governor Printz returned to Sweden in 1653 and Papegoja
became acting governor. Some time after his service in this capacity
ended, Papagoja also left for Sweden, but without his wife, who
refused to leave. In 1656 Papegoja came back to the colony, now
governed by the Dutch, but shortly thereafter returned to Sweden,
alone once more. Armgard had no desire to leave her father's old
home, Printzhof, on Tinicum Island on the Delaware. In Sweden,
Papegoja joined the army and fought in the Northern War of
1655-60 in Germany. From there he once wrote to someone in
Sweden stating that everything he had possessed in America he
had lost to the conniving Dutch in New Netherland (New York).
After the war, Papegoja settled down on his estate in Västergöt­land.
People thought it peculiar that he lived alone without his wife
and evil tongues became busy. Since Armgard showed no desire to
change her place of domicile, her father, Johan Printz, then the
provincial governor in Jönköping, wrote to her admonishing her to
come home to her husband for the sake of honor and integrity. His
66
letter produced the desired effect and in 1662 she came back, but as
unyielding and contrary as ever. Toward her husband she remained
cold and distant. Her reputation became tarnished indeed. The
parish pastor and leading men of the community substantiated the
contention that Johan was a good Christian who had led an
"honorable and virtuous life." But Armgard showed him neither
love nor "duty to bed and board." It was disgraceful and
scandalous in the eyes of the steadfast.
By Christmas, 1662, apparently satiated with hard feelings,
Armgard made an attempt to flee back to America, but her trip
ended in Gothenburg. In May the following year her father died.
She was at the funeral and later at the reading of the will. She
inherited a substantial sum of money, which she tucked away for
some future gamble. That gamble arrived a short time before the
following Christmas when her husband went to Stockholm on
business and Armgard, still resentful, seized the opportunity to
depart from home and hearth. This time she was successful.
Together with a young man named Jacob Svensson, a son of Sven
Skute, a former officer in the New Sweden colony, she dashed off to
Gothenburg and from there embarked for America. In 1667, Johan
Papegoja died and was buried in Tidaholm church in Västergöt­land,
where he is memorialized by an epitaph bearing his coat of
arms. Back in America Armgard had again settled down on
Tinicum Island. Once, in an earlier period, she had sold the island,
but had been paid only half the selling price. A colonial court now
decided that she was free to sell it again and later she did so very
much to the relief, if not joy, of her servants to whom she seemed
tyranny personified.
In 1676 Armgard came back to Sweden. To the charge by the legal
authorities that she had abandoned her husband, she pleaded not
guilty and promptly retaliated by filing countercharges. She lived
on the Papegoja estate, probably Korpegården, and following her
established pattern of behavior was unable to live in harmony with
her environment. When her son Berent became superintendent of
the castle of Läckö she made her home there. In 1695, at age
seventy, her troubled, unsettled life came to an end. The distress
she had caused her family and environment never bothered her as
much as it did the recipients of her ill humor. Yet, she managed her
property shrewdly and well. Armgard was buried in the old church
in Otterstad, near Läckö. When it was later torn down, stone from
67
the church, as well as some of the gravestones—including Arm­gard's—
were used in the construction of houses and barns in the
area.
Korpegården Manor, Västergötland, in 1 9 8 3 . ( C o u r t e s y of E v e r t A . L a r s s o n .)
The youngest son of Vice-Governor Papegoja, also named Johan,
was, as indicated before, apparently born in America and had lived
with his mother on Tinicum Island. At least it is known he did so in
1668. On one occasion Armgard sent "two little Papegojas" to
Sweden and Johan must have been one of them. In 1678 he was a
second-lieutenant (fänrik) in the Swedish army, where he gained a
reputation as a misfit. Three years later he was discharged as
useless for the service.
Johan was another Papegoja who possessed a short and
uncontrollable temper. One night, at the end of a drinking party, he
found his bed occupied by another party-goer. The situation so
enraged him that he drew his saber, and without mercy or regard
for consequences, struck his sleeping comrade, who lost a
"horrendous amount" of blood and subsequently long hovered
between life and death. Johan was sentenced to two years in prison
for his deed and ordered to pay a fine of 2,000 silver daler. A few
weeks before he was to begin serving his prison term, he asked for
permission to go home to settle his affairs. The request was
granted, but Johan seized this as an occasion for deliverance. He
68
slipped away to Gothenburg and from there to America—his native
land. Apparently nothing is known of his life thereafter, but he
must have remained there. He would have faced incarceration and
additional criminal charges had he returned to Sweden.
SOURCES
I picked up many of the surviving traditions concerning the Papegoja family while
on a visit to their—and my—native Västergötland in 1983. In addition, the following
works have provided information for this article:
Acrelius, Israel. A H i s t o r y of N e w S w e d e n ; or, T h e Settlements on the R i v e r D e l a w a r e .
Trans. William Reynolds. Philadelphia, 1874. Reprint ed., Philadelphia: Readex,
1966.
Elgenstierna, Gustaf. D e n introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor. 9 vols. Stockholm,
1925-36.
Johanson, Amandus. T h e I n s t r u c t i o n s for Johan P r i n t z . Philadelphia, 1930.
. T h e Swedes on t h e D e l a w a r e . Philadelphia, 1914.
Jäpås-boken. Ed. Arne Wellner, Robert Fahlström, et a l . Falköping, 1979.
Lidköpings-bygden. J u l e n 1 9 8 3 . Ed. Georg Larsson. Lidköping, 1983.
Pomfret, John. T h e Province of West N e w Jersey, 1 6 0 9 - 1 7 0 2 . Princeton, 1956.
Sprinchorn, Carl. "Kolonien Nya Sveriges historia." Historiskt bibliotek, 5 (1878).
Stårck, J. " E n senfödd viking." Nya dagligt allehanda (Stockholm), J u l t i d n i n g en
1 9 2 8 .
69